In the battle over music streaming royalties, one musician wants something more valuable than money: information

The recently proposed Internet Radio Fairness Act (IRFA) has been leading many to take sides in a battle that continues to heat up. While it’s been easy to predict who would be on which side of the issue, one musician has offered new and interesting perspective, and her take may not be what you expect.

First, though, some background information.

I wrote about the IRFA in September, but here’s a quick recap: Internet radio stations, like Pandora, pay a significant amount of their revenue in royalties, most of it to recording artists and music labels (called performance royalties). In Pandora’s case, more than 50% of their revenue. Satellite radio (SiriusXM) also pays these royalties, but at a much lower rate (actually, a fixed percentage of their revenue), while terrestrial broadcasters don’t pay performance royalties at all. The IRFA is proposed legislation to reduce the royalties paid by Internet radio to be in line with what satellite radio pays.

Not surprisingly, Pandora backs it, claiming that the amount that Internet radio pays in royalties discourages innovation and entry into the market by other streamers and that the IRFA would “level the playing field” and, in the long run, help artists by encouraging new technologies and growth of the business. Also in favor of the bill are broadcasters like Clear Channel and Cox Media Group. These organizations, and others, have joined together to form the Internet Radio Fairness Coalition to push for passage of the IRFA.

None of this is all that surprising. What was surprising, though, was the analysis and opinion provided last week by Zoë Keating, a cellist, composer and recipient of the music royalties in question. Rather than just following the leads of Katy Perry, Megadeth and Pink Floyd by opposing the IRFA, Keating took some time to study the issue and her own situation and come to her own conclusions. She believes that royalties shouldn’t just be paid in money, but also in data.